HC to hear two fresh FIRs against Rathore tomorrow

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday will take up the hearing on two fresh FIRs filed against former DGP SPS Rathore in Ruchika molestation case charging him with serious offences like attempt to murder and doctoring the post-mortem report of the teenager.

On April 5, High Court Judge Justice Sabina had adjourned hearing in the case till July 19 after the CBI had sought more time to conduct the probe.

The two FIRs registered by the CBI in January this year on the basis of complaints filed by Ruchika's father S C Girhotra and brother Ashu, accuse Rathore of committing serious offences including attempt to murder, wrongful confinement, giving false evidence and doctoring post-mortem report of the teenaged girl.

Rathore's plea for quashing of the third FIR under section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) had later been referred to a High Court division bench.

Earlier, Rathore had filed a third petition seeking quashing of the third FIR stating that the issue had been settled earlier even at the level of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Justice Jitendra Chauhan of the High Court will also resume tomorrow hearing on a day-to-day basis the 68-year-old Rathore's revision petition challenging his conviction in the molestation case.

Rathore's lawyer wife Abha had on May 26 filed the revision petition in the High Court on his behalf for suspension of sentence and grant of bail to the former Haryana DGP, a day after the sessions court here awarded him 18-month jail term for molesting budding tennis player Ruchika.

Rathore has been lodged in the high security Burail jail in Chandigarh since May 25.

Ruchika Girhotra had committed suicide three years after being molested by Rathore on August 12, 1990.